PART 12

The First Half of the Nineties

1991-1995

The first half of the 1990s has been characterized

by changes in the world order, containment of local-

ized fighting and a revamped naval strategy. As 1991

began, the 15 January deadline for the UN-ordered

withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait neared; and

U.S. aircraft carriers advanced to locations near the

Persian Gulf. On 16 January, (the night of 17 January

in the Middle East), Tomahawk cruise missiles were

launched at pre-programmed targets by nine U.S.

Navy ships in the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and

Red Sea; just in time to be shown on the evening

news. Later that same evening, President George H.

W. Bush addressed the nation and announced that

the liberation of Kuwait had begun and a massive ar-

mada of naval, air force and Allied aircraft struck tar-

gets in Iraq.

The Gulf War was the first war the public could see

in real time. TV viewers around the world saw first

hand the awesome military might of the United States

as it liberated Kuwait. The Gulf War was short and on

27 February, President Bush declared that Kuwait had

been liberated. However, UN economic sanctions

against Iraq remained in effect. Naval Aviation was ac-

tively involved in patrolling Iraq during the remainder

of the first half of the decade. It was involved in sup-

porting UN-imposed sanctions against Iraq and limit-

ing Iraq's threat to its minorities and neighbors.

In October 1994, after Iraqi troops again massed on

the Kuwaiti border, President Clinton dispatched

George Washington to the Red Sea, to protect Kuwait

from possible invasion. Iraq withdrew from the

Kuwaiti border and recognized the sovereignty of

Kuwait, but UN economic sanctions on Iraq remained

in place. In 1995, Constellation, Theodore Roosevelt

and Independence patrolled Iraq's "no-fly zone" dur-

ing Operation Southern Watch.

The Soviet Union had cooperated with the United

States during the Gulf War. It was the first U.S.-Soviet

coordinated effort since World War II. Soviet glasnost

(openness) and peristroika (re-structuring) were

bringing about changes and unrest in the Soviet

Union. In August 1991, an attempted coup triggered

the dissolution of the Soviet Union into its component

republics. On 25 December 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev

formally resigned as president of a Soviet Union that

no longer existed.

The collapse of the Soviet Union left the United

States as the world's only superpower. The new world

order presented regional rather than global threats

and challenges. In response, the Navy developed a

new strategy promulgated in the white pater entitled

". . . From the Sea." The paper emphasized littoral

warfare-along the coastlines-and maneuver from

the sea.

The new global situation called for the downsizing

of the Navy's personnel and material. With the Soviet

Union no longer a threat, the Clinton administration

supported a smaller defense budget. For Naval

Aviation it was the largest draw-down since World War

II. Many aviation squadrons and naval shore facilities

were disestablished, reorganized or consolidated.

The break-up of the composite state of Yugoslavia

into its constituent republics presented the first major

challenge to the Navy's ". . . From the Sea" strategy. In

a referendum in the spring of 1992, a majority of those

in the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina voted for inde-

pendence from the remains of Yugoslavia. The

Bosnian Serbs reacted by proclaiming that the

Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina was a constituted part

of Yugoslavia, now only consisting of Serbia and

Montenegro. Fighting broke out between the Serbs,

Croats, and Slavic Moslems in Bosnia-Herzegovina and

the republic was divided along ethnic lines.

Along the coastline of Bosnia-Herzegovina, aircraft

carriers kept watch over the situation from the Adriatic

Sea and provided support for Operation Provide

Promise-the United Nations relief effort-and

Operation Deny Flight, which monitored the air space

over Bosnia-Herzegovina to prevent the warring par-

ties from using it in warfare.

On her last deployment (1994), Saratoga provided

support for Operations Deny Flight and Provide

Promise. Saratoga then returned to Mayport, Fla.,

where she was decommissioned in August 1994.

Dwight D. Eisenhower and America continued the

support of Operation Deny Flight from the Adriatic

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